Ribbon-reversing mechanism



' 1,634,593 J 1927' A. PATEMAN 121mm: REVERSING MECHANISM Filed May 17, 1926 V 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Jul 1927.

y A. PATEMAN RIBBON REVBRSING MECHANISM Filed May 17, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 5, 1927 UN STATES ARTHUR rATEMAN, 'oE LEICESTER, EivGLANn, ASS'IGNOR'TO IMPERIA TYPEWEIT R 5 i 1,634,593 P T NT OFFICE. i

I COMPANY LIMITED, or LEICESTER, ENGLAND, AIBRI'IISH'COMPANY.

RIBBON REVERSING MECHANISM.

Application flIed May 1'7, 1926,'Seria1 No. 109,300, and in 'Great Britain June 2', 1925.

This invention relates to the ink-ribbon winding and reversing mechanism of typewriters and has reference tosuch mechanism 1 of the type corresponding to the following 5 description. In mechanism of the type in question the operation of the reversing means is occasioned by the temporary interengagement, and, it may be, movement in unison, of'two normally disengaged members, of

which one is a reciprocating member (to'be understood as including an oscillating member) operatively connected to the type-keys so as to reciprocate at each depression ofthe keys. One of these normally disengaged members is maintained by ribbon-controlled means in such a position relatively to the.

other during the winding and unwinding operations of the winding mechanism that the reciprocating member moves in its path clear of the other member and when themoment' arrives for reversingthe ribbon-winding mechanism said ribbon-controlled means "operates and in consequence the relative 'positions of the normally disengaged members are altered in such manner'that the path of reciprocating movement of thereciprocating member is intercepted by the other member with the result. that the temporary interengagement which occasions the actuation of the reversing means is effected;

Hitherto in mechanism of this type the said ribbon-controlled means, which by. its

operation under the tension of the ribbon occasions the temporary intercept-ion of the path of movement of the reciprocating member by the other member, has been so operatively associated with that member of the said two normally disengagedmembers with which it co-acts that thet'ension in the ribtrolled means is caused'positively to, force the intercepting member into the path of the reciprocating member. This arrangement. however, has proved unsatisfactory in that it tends to fouling of the partsof the mechanism and the present invention has for its principal object to provide an improvement whereby this difliculty is overcome.

For the sake of convenience and brevity the term catch will be employed hereinafter in designation of that member of the said two normally disengaged members with which the ribbon-controlled means aforesaid co-acts to bring about the temporary interception of the path of movement of thereciprocating member. Also the position the catch.

bon operating through said ribbon-conof the reciprocating member of the two nor- 1 mally disengaged members aforesaid is interdesignated the operative position of the According to the inventi ink-ribbonwinding and automatic reversing mechanism of the type above referred-to, is.

provided whereof the, member designated the catch is yieldinglyoperated to its operative position. s

Operative connections may be provided between thecatchfand theribbon involving a ribbon-controlled detent, arranged when operated in one direction to'withdraw the catch fIOIn'itS operativeposition'and thereon,- typewriter I after to hold the catch against itsiyielding control but of said operativ'eposition and when operated in the reverse-direction to release the catch:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the spool-v I mechanism at one side of'the machine; Figure 2 1s a plan of the mechanlsm at either side of the machine, with certain parts removed;

Figure 3 is a central vertical section through part of the mechanism and V Figure 4 represents more or less diagrammatically a horizontal'sectional view through i the spool along the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

In the various figures like reference characters indicate like parts.

The mechanism comprises as usual'two similar units disposed one at either side of the machine and allocated one to the winding-on spool and the other'to the windingofi' spool. With the parts of the mechanism in the relative positions'shown in Figure 2, the unit on'the left-hand side of Figure 2 is the one'which is allocated to the windingoif spool and the unit at the right-handside is the one which is allocated to the winding on spool. It will of course be understood, however, that first the left-hand spool constitutes the winding-off spool and" the righthand spool the winding-on spool and 'after J reverse has been effected the left-h'and-spool becomes the winding-on spool and the righthand spool the winding-off spool. 7

Each unit'of the mechanism comprises a central vertical'shaftl which is stationary and is mounted upon a foundation.v plate 2 suitably carried by means, not shown,.'upon the framework 3 of the machine.

Mounted 'upon the shaft 1 so as to be freelyrevoluble cepted by the other member thereof, will be1 I the top pl'ate.

chine oscillate in unison once at every dethereon is a sleeve 4 carrying at the bottom a ratchetwheel 5. The ratchet-wheel 5 is spool 7 is mounted upon the sleeve 4 and rests as shown upon the upper face of the enlargen'ient 6 which constitutes at the top a shoulder to receive the undo side of the spool. I

Between the underside of the spool and the ratchetwheel 5 there interposed a discshapedplate 8 which will be referred to as In Figure 2 this top plate 8 is removed.

The spools are each arranged, usual, to bed-riven by the depression of any one of the type-keys of the machine and the drivi ng connections between the spool and the type-keys comprise the s ve -1, the ratchetwheel 5, a 3a "1 9 spring-pressed towards the teeth of the ratchet andmounted upon the tree end ot' a leverlO pivotally carried upon'the shat'tl, and other operative (onnections not tornung' partot the inve on l di olj t n and' shown only in partlat 116 iings; Th elevers 10. on both sides pression 01" anyone el the type-keys and with the parts in the relative positions indi eated m Figure 2,v the pawl 9 ot' the right hand unit will engageithe ratchet 5 'with which it cooperates with the result that the right-hand spool vill be driven. l Vhilst the right-handspool islieing' driven: in this way the left-hand spool together with theratchet '5 loosely revolves on theashatt 1,-thefp-awl 9 of the left-hand unit being nminlained out of contact with the teeth o the ratchet by -means of a projection 121- proiecting; up

wardly from the upper tare oil" a T-shaped lev'er 13 pivotally mounted to swing: in a horizontal plane upon a stud 1% carried upon the bottom. plate 2. I

The .T-shaped lever 13 is provided as shown: with three limbs, one 15 which carries the projecting. pin 12"j'ust referred to, another 16- carrying; a second projecting pin 1.?

and' a third 18 which has a short slot 19 at the free end. The pin-1'7 operates to throw into and out of engagement with t-hoteeth of the ratchet-wheelh "at-check pawl 20 pi-votally' mou n ted upon a stud secured upon the bottom plate 2.

Pivotally mounted upon the shaft 1 and situated'just above the lever 10'- which may be "referred to as the'driving lever. is a member 21 formed with several radially projecting arms. with a long" arm 22' which is operativcly connected by a connecting link 23 with the correspondinga-rm 22 of the right-hand unit so that pivotal movement of the lever 21 of the unit at one side of the machine will octhelever 21 at the other side otthe machine.

This member 21 is provided 22 just referred to, a pointed arm i inafter again to be reterred torn s longer arin a 'lourth 2t; 2

arm 27. The last-mentioned arm 2 carriesca dependinpg pin 28 which is arranged to extend through theslot 19 the arm 18 of the T-shapod levcr lfi and-to-tz'ansmit 123 movement from the lever 21 to the lever when reverse is to be effected;

its stated earlier, the driving-lever.10 cil'lates once at every depression of at hey. When reverse is to lie-effected a g-ra lty-operatedcatch 280 is pivotallymounted.

upon the arm 25 of the lever 21- to swing; in a vertical plane, is arrangedto drop down .intothe path of the right-hand arm 29,01 the driving lever 10. As will heat once seen,

this movement of the catch 289 will result take place in the unit on the left-hand side .7

of'F-igure' 2. 'At the seine time a: reverse set of operations takes place in. the right-hand unit otthe mechanism. That is tosay, the member 21 of the right-hand unit is swe in an anticlockwise direction, the lever 13 is moved in a clockwise direction andthe pawls 91and20 are broug tout o itidriving engagement with the teeth o't the. ratchet. As typingcontinuesit. will be readily und rstood that the drive isatrans'te iovements'oi: the parts atorcsnid. 'l rozn the right-hand spool to the lett-hand'sgool;

The catch 280 is arranged, lobe normally held up, that is in. the position shown in .Figure 1, out 01". en; 'ement with the-arm 29. ot the. driving lG'\ er 10 by. means ore. ribbon-controlled. detent 30 ,pivotally mounted at 31 upon the top'plate 8. This detent 30 is provided with two horns 32 and 33-inspectively. The horn. 33 m arranged to he engaged in ahnown mm uer by a p 3 1 forming part ot a him-:edtengue 315 hinged.- at 36 to'the hub of the ribbon-spool, and extending through a. slot 37 in the lowerflange ot' the spool. so: as to, enejage the edge of. the horn 330i the detent. The other horn- 32 is arranged. as shown. to bear upon the front 1 1808 of theupwardly extending arm 38 of the catch. 280% as tohold the catch the positionv shown-in Figuie 1, when the detentis in the posit in shown in Figure 2, that is',.when the tongue 35 s in the positionv shown in Figure 4 which isthe case in both the winding-on spoolj'and' winding-ofi" spool. until the tensionin theribbon pullsthe tongue35 of the winding-oft. spool projection into the position .shown in dotted lines in Figure 4. \l/Vhen this occurs the horn 32 of the detent moves outwardly and allows'the catch 280 to drop down to the operative position aforesaid. V I

If, when the catch drops, the arm 29 of the drivinglever lO be vertically beneath the slot lO through which the catch 280 drops, the catch will merely ride on top of the arm 29 until the latter moves to the position shown in Figure 2 whereupon the catch will complete its movement.-

The detent 30 isarrangedto be springcontrolled in a direction to return the catch 280 to the position shown in Figure 1. by means of a tension-spring tl'anchored-to a stud eil'secured to the top-plate 8.

The member 21 is arranged to be moved only partially through its operative stroke,

- nism.

by direct thrust from the type-key mecha- The remainder of its travel is effected in a known manner by means of a springcontrolled lever 4-3 operating through a roller 44. mounted thereon upon the angled end of the arm 24. The/member 21 is moved by positive thrust from the type-key mechanism sufficiently far to carry the point of the arm 24 overthe dead centre of the pin 45 upon which the roller 4A rolls, whereupon the tension in the spring 46 which controls thelever43 operates'to drive home the member 21, whether the movement of said memher be clockwise or anti-clockwise, f

As will be seen upon reference to the drawings, only the left-hand unit is provided with a spring-controlled lever and roller as set forth in the preceding paragraph. Consequently, the spring-controlled lever 43 provided on the left-hand unit will operate both the ileft-hand and the righthand unit, the inter-connecting link 23 transmitting thrust to the right-hand unit.

In order to limit the throw of the lever 10 and thereby ensure that the ratchet-wheel 5 shall be advanced one tooth at a time, an adjustable stop 4-7 is provided on each unit.

This stop 47 may conveniently take "the form, as shown,of a vertical stud mounted upon the bottom plate2 so as to be capable of adjustment by rotation thereon and formedwith an eccentric at the top. By the partial rotation of the stud the position ofthe stop relatively to the pawl 9, with the front edge of which the eccentric is arranged to engage, may be adjusted at will.

It is desirable to be able to adjust one unit relatively to the other and for this purpose one of the pins 22 which connect the link 23 to the arms 22 may have an eccen tric portion 23 engaging, say, the link 23 so that by rotation of the pin the distance between the extremities of the arms 22 may be shortened or lengthened slightly as desired to effect the requisite relative adjustment of the units.

' that the main operative parts of the mechanism, namely, the levers 10 and 21, are mounted to rotate about a common fulcrum, is that the transi'nission of motion from the lever 10 to the lever 21 through the catch 2S0 isrendered easy and direct; there is no :liding' friction suchas would otherwise occur if the said levers were mounted on separate fulcrums. A further advantage'is' that it is open to the manufacturer to angularly dispose the various parts of the mechanism as'he pleases about the central axis, for example, to clear portions. of the mechanism is the case in the construction described'or it may be mounted upon the member which isoperativelyconnected with the type-keys.

A further modification might be the provi- 1. Typewriter ink ribbon winding and automatic reversing mechanism of the class described comprising .in combination, inkribbon reversing means, two members pivotally mounted to swing aboutxa common axis in proximityto one another, one of said members being operatively connected to the machine type keys so as to oscillate as the latter are depressed, and the other ofsaid members being operativcly connected to the ribbon reversing means to operate said means by its swinging movement, a yieldingly controlled member mounted on one of said swinging members to constitute the catch, and capable of movement under its yielding control into the path of the other swinging member to take its operative position in which it looks the two swinging members together wherebyin one direction they move in unison. and aribbon-controlled means-for normally holding the catch out of its operative position until reverse is to be effected, and then releasing it.

2. Typewriter ink-ribbon winding and au tomatic reversing mechanism of the class described comprising in combination, ink ribbon reversing means, two members pivota'lly mounted to swing about a common axisin proximity to one another, one of said members being operatively connected to the machine type-keys so as to oscillate as the latter are depressed, and the other of said members being operatively connected to the ribbon reversing means to operate said means by its swinging movement, a yieldingly cont-rolled member constituting the catch pivoted. to one of said swinging members so as to be capable of swinging under its yielding control into the path of the other swinging member about an axis tangential to the saidipath to take its operative posit-ion in which it locks the two swinging members together whereby in one direction they move in unison, and a ribbon-controlled detent tor normally holding the catch out of its operativejposition until reverse is to be efiected, and then releasing it.

7 3. Typewriter ink-ribbon winding and automatic reversing mechanism of the class described comprising n combination, ink ribbon reversing means, two members piv' otally mounted to. swing about a common axis in proximity to one another, one of said members being operatively connected to the machine typeekeys so as to oscillate as the latter are depressed, and the other of said members being operatively connected to the ribbon reversing means to operate said means by its swingingmovem-ent, a, gravity operated member-constituting the catch pivoted to one of said swinging members so as to be capable of swinging by gravity into the path of the other swinging member about an axis tangential to the said path to take its operative position in which it locks the two swinging member-s together whereby in one direction they move in unison. and a ribbon-controlled detent for normally holding the catch out of its operative position until reverse is to be effected, and then releasing it. 4., Typewriter ink-ribbon winding and automatic reversing mechanism of the class described comprising in combination, ink ribbon reversing means. two members pivotally mounted to swing about a common axis in proximity to one another, one of said members being" operatively connected. to the machine ty 'ie-keys so as to oscillate as the'latter are depressed, and the other of said mem bers being o 'ieratively connected to the ribhon reversing means to operate said means by its swinging movement, a yieldingly controlled member mounted on one of said swinging meniibers to constitute the catch and capable of movement under its-yielding control, into the path, of the other swinging member to take its operative position in described comprising member pivotally mountedto swing about which it l'ocks'the twoswinging members to gether whereby in one direction they move in unison, and a ribbon-controlled means for normally holding the catch out of its opera-v tive position until reverse is to be effected, and then releasing it, said catch member being mounted for sliding engagement, with the other swinging member, whereby when the catch is released while said other swinging member is in the path of thecatc'h'memher, the latterwill 'r-ide idly upon said. swing ing member until suiiicient relativemovement of the parts has taken place to enable the catch to complete its .yielding-ly controlled movement.

Inatypewr-iter providen with two rib hon spcols operatingalternately as windingon and paying-off spools, typewriter inkribbon winding and automatic reversing mechanism of the class described, including ribbon reversing means, and comprising in combination two members, one for each spool, pivotall mounted to swing about a common ans in proximity to oneanother, one of said members beingoperatively connected to t-he machine type-keys so as to oscillate the latter are depressed, anclthe other of said members beingoperatively connected to the ribbon reversing meansto op: crate said means by its swinging movement, a yieldi-ngly controlled member mounted on oneot said swinging members to constitute the catch, and capable of movement under its] yielding control into the path ot' the other swingingmember t'o take its operative posi- =tion in which it looks the two swinging memberstogether. whereby in one direction they move in unison, and a ribbon-controlled means for normally holding the catch out of its operative position until reverse is to. be

effec eth and then releasing it.

i 6. Typewriter ink ribbon.winding andaw tomatic reversing, mechanism of the class 1nv combination, a

an. axis, and connected to the machine type keys to oscillate as the latter are depressed, a second member pivoted on said axis and connectedto the ribbon reversing means, a ribbon spool and: a driving ratchet therefor both also mounted on, said axis, means for temporarily connecting said two members whereby they oscillate in unison, a driving pawl for said ratchet carried by said first member, a check pawl for said ratchet, and a double bell crank having its central arm pivoted. to said second lever, and its two oppositely directed limbs pivoted respectively to said pawls, whereby said pawls are withdrawn from operative engagement with the ratchet. 1 i

7,. Typewriter ink ribbon winding and automatic-reversing mechanism of the class described comprising in combination, a member'pivotally mounted to swing about an aXis, and connected to the machine type keys to oscillate as the latter are depressed, a second member pivoted on said axis and connected to the ribbon reversing means, a ribbon spool and a driving ratchet therefor both also mounted von said axis, means for temporarily connecting said two members whereby they oscillate in unison, a driving pawl for said ratchet carried by said first member, a check pawl for said ratchet, and a double bell crank having its central arm pivoted to said second lever, and its two oppositely directed limbs pivoted respectively to said PZLWlS, whereby said paWls are Withdrawn from operative engagement With the ratchet, a second ribbonspool having a similar mechanism as said first spool, and

interconnecting means between the two sets of mechanism whereby the reversing means in .both sets operate simultaneously, that of 20 one set being driven by the other.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ARTHUR PATEMAN. 

